NAVAL ANALYST IS GUILTY OF ESPIONAGE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706770005-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: October 18, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/13 :CIA-RDP90-009658000706770005-3
ARTICLE AP E
ON PAGE ~ ~
NEW YORK TIMES
1.8 October 1985
Naval Analyst Is Guilty of Espionage
By ROBiN 'TONER ~ rts cuntainLz estimates of the dam-
spec,v ~, rn~ New York Timp a e t e outer nwn su er rom a
BALTIMORE, Oct. 17 - A tonner 1 e oston.
naval intelligence analyst was con- Rte pr~secucion argued that Mr. ~
vtTed a on c ar es o es tons a Morison used those documents to pre- ~
and a or vt secret of ra I Pare a memorandum for Jane's, which
to a nns mt tta ou ~ was later incorporated into an article.
o er secret to otatatton m s ome.
eve ct was rat awry m
Federal District Court here after it
deliberated six hoots.
The analyst, Samuel Loring Morison,
a civilian, was found guilty of all four
counts in the indictment. Mr. Morison,
a grattdson of the naval historian Sam-
uel Eliot Monson, faces a maximum
sentence of 40 years in prison and
540,000 in times.
The case was widely watched be-
cause it marked oNy the second trine
the Gwetment had used the espio-
Hoge laws to prosecute an official, or
former official, for disclosing secret in-
I.....we~i~w ?n fl,~ ~~ma
Ellsbers Verdict Dismissed ~ work ywat t e center since ~ ~e ~
In the other case, Daniel Ellsberg 'sat .
and Anthony Russo, were found guilty ~
of copying the Government history of , Dual Role Countenanced
the Vietnam War that became famous For some ome. he had also held a
as the Pentagon Papers. The Ellsberg- part-time paaition as American editor'
Russo verdict was dismissed in 1973 on' of Janes Fighting Ships, an annual'
the ground of Government misconduct. reference volume produced by the ~
Michael Schatzow, the prosecutor in ~ company that publishes the magazine.
the Morison case, said he hoped the The Navy knew about this and counte-
new verdiM sent a message to other I nanced it, but it was a source of friction
people with access to secret mfonna-
tion. "I would hope that people who are
tempted to give out, in an unauthorized
fashion, information relating to the na-
tionai defense, stop doing it," he said.
Mr. Morison, who quietly paced a
courthouse hall much of the day while
the jury deliberated, stood as the ver-
dtctwas read. His face was flushed, but
he maintained composure. He was
quickly ushered out by riffs lawyers.
M Appeal Is Platmed
Mark Lynch of the American Civil
Liberties Union, a lawyer for Mr. Mori-
son, declined to comment but said the
Mr. Morison was also convicted on two
counts of theh of Government property
for removing the photographs and gov-
ernment documents from the naval
center where he worked.
His trial lasted six days. Mr. Morison ~
was represented by Mr. Lynch and a I
Washington lawyer, Robert Muse.
After the verdict, Mr. Schatzow had
harsh words for the civil liberties
union. He acc?~sed it of an ' `orches-
trated effort" to "try this case in the;
newspapers . "
At the time of his a; rest in October ~
19$4. r. o. n was a c
lYSt at the Naval me tgence support
Center in Suit an e serv ~
with his, immediate supervisor, the
testimony indicated.
Prosecutors argued that Mr. Morison
was eager to get a full-time job on the
British military weekly.
His lawyers portrayed Mr. Morison.
40 years old, as a man with a deep ci,m-
mitment to the Navy and strong Untted
States military forces. He is one of
many Government offictals who dis-
closeunauthorized information to new.
reporters, the defense argued.
And, Mr. Muse said, he did so with
high motives: to inform the public.
particularly about Soviet military
client was disappointed. .power. ,
Mr. Morison was cotn+icted of violet- ~ Focus on 2 Questions
ing an espionage law by giving three
photographs taken by satellite, classi-
fied as secret, to the British publication
Jane's Defence Weekly, in 1981.
The photographs showed a Soviet
ship under construction at a Black Sea
shipyard. They were published by
Jane's in August 1884 aM reprinted
widely.
Was the information conveyed by the
satellite photographs ar:d the docu-
ments in Mr. Motison's home "closely
held" by the Government? And could
the photographs and documents
"potentially damage" the United
States?
The prosecution presented witnesses
He was also convicted of "unauthor- I w o teen r t t ere~iad never been
aeaesston o an out onze rsc osure o o-
iron or tee ~ sec oaunen to ~ to ten t e sate to tnvo v
firs me. ose ~T , a tare en two un-
cetp i su onz re eases ear er.
Similarly a naval officer testifying
forte rrosecutton t t ocu-
ments to r. onson s me c
have given the Soviet Union "a window
on c e nova m r. t ante roc~s.'r
e e ense cuunte wtt tts own
sat a co seen
in o value to the
ovte nron m
e
a wt Hess
o
ow also
3~
,lot t t
et
on area
v atn a co
o
e t i
r
sate rte.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/13 :CIA-RDP90-009658000706770005-3